


So It Was You All Along

by RiriPandaHeart



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phanfiction, Soulmate AU, soulmate, soulmate alternate universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 14:39:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11233101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiriPandaHeart/pseuds/RiriPandaHeart
Summary: In a world where soulmates exist and their first words to each other are tattoed on their bodies, Dan and Phil have long given up hope to find theirs. And honestly, who can blame them? Phil had a problem because his tattoo’s content is literal gibberish, just saying “weeeeeeeeeeee”, which means absolutely nothing. Dan had a problem because his tattoo contained a generic phrase which says: “Are you alright”?, a phrase he’s heard too many times in his life because of his innate clumsiness.





	So It Was You All Along

**Author's Note:**

> I found this prompt by K3llyfish on the phan tag on tumblr. The original prompt was: Soulmate AU where the first words your soulmate ever says to you is tattooed on your body but it’s just absolute gibberish because it was said to you by a baby when you were also a baby and you don’t know who said it or when because…you were babies. It could be the person you’ve been friends with since birth, it could be someone you used to have play dates with, it could be someone you encountered once at story time, you may never know.
> 
> But I tweaked it a little bit to fit the story that suddenly came to me while reading her prompt. Sorry for the rush drabble. The idea just wouldn't leave me alone so I had to write it. Hope someone at least reads and enjoy this. :)

Dan and Phil are Youtubers who have been best friends for a few years now and have been living together in 3 different apartments. Besides their multiple common interests, (and the fact that Dan was a fanboy of Phil’s), one of their mutual connections was the fact that they have both given up on finding their soulmates. And honestly, who can blame them? Phil had a problem because his tattoo’s content is literal gibberish, just saying “weeeeeeeeeeee”, which means absolutely nothing. Dan had a problem because his tattoo contained a generic phrase which says: “Are you alright”?, a phrase he’s heard too many times in his life because of his innate clumsiness. All of the people who has said that phrase to him had never reacted to any of his immediate words right after, so no, those people weren’t his soulmate.

 

One day Phil’s find Dan looking morose. Concerned, Phil asks Dan why he’s sad. Knowing that Phil won't stop until he gets to the bottom of Dan's problem, Dan just immediately confesses that the reason for his glum mood was that his parents were moving away from his family home. Knowing how much Dan loved his old house coupled with how much he hates changes, plus Phil having undergone the same thing not even 3 years ago, Phil tries to comfort Dan by offering to accompany him when he goes back to his childhood home to pack his mementos, which Dan gladly accepts.

 

They did exactly that. They went back to their London home with 2 boxes full of knick knacks from Dan’s childhood, including 5 VHS tapes that Dan has never seen before. Knackered from their excursion, they planned to have a chill night, just watching the recovered tapes, complete with the microwaved popcorn that Phil loves.

 

After choosing a random VHS, they settled in their couch, Phil preparing to tease the hell out of Dan, and Dan preparing to be mortified by his childhood self.

 

The first video starts with Dan’s grandmother making a vlog-style introduction saying that the entire Howell family was currently at a grand family reunion in Manchester.

 

“Manchester? Didn’t know you had relatives there“, Phil says as he looks at Dan inquiringly.

 

“Didn’t know I had relatives there til now. Mom and Dad must not be close to them“, Dan answers with a shrug.

 

The video continues with the appearance of a 1-year old Dan, all brown eyes and dimpled smiles, running around the hall where the reunion was taking place. The camera follows Dan as he brazenly marches out of the hall and out into the playground situated right next to the hall. One can hear his grandmother’s frantic breath in the camera as she tries to keep up with Dan’s exuberance.

 

Dan continues to run, stopping once in a while in different places to check out every thing in the playground with wide-eyed wonder.

 

The nonchalant mood of the video is broken as Dan's grandmother suddenly shouts: “Dan, be careful!”, which was immediately explained by the sudden appearance onscreen of a toddler Dan approaching a puddle.

 

Being a kid lost in his own world, Dan fails to notice the puddle (or maybe he did and thought nothing of it), he tries to run straight through it, but slips and falls down. Dan’s grandmother tries to hurry to his side, as evidenced by the sudden wobbling of the camera, but the image shows that somebody gets to Dan first. A young boy of about 5 years old appears alongside Dan and helps the toddler to stand up.

 

Phil looks intently at the screen, details about the young kid capturing his attention. The kid had ginger hair and was quite tall for his age and had very pale skin which was almost translucent….. also, he looked vaguely familiar…. almost as if.... could it be? the kid looked exactly like Phil when he was younger. As Phil was about to voice his sudden realization, Dan beats him to it by exclaiming: “OMG Phil. That kid looks just like you in your childhood pics.”

 

“Wouldn’t it be a great coincidence if it was me? But the world’s too big of a place for that. Maybe it just looks like me”, Phil shrugs, desperately trying to temper his expectations that somewhere in his past, he had met up with Dan.

 

Stories like that are typical of soulmates, but Phil has long accepted that he would never meet his soulmate, let alone that his soulmate would be Dan. Not only did their first words to each other not match their tattoos, it seemed Dan only wanted his friendship. Phil was content if friendship with Dan was all he could have, but in his moments of weakness, he could not help but ask whatever higher being was out there deciding the soulmate system that if it were petty enough to not allow him a proper chance to meet his soulmate, that it would at least give him a proper chance to be Dan’s.

 

Noises from the video pulls Phil out from his reverie, and he observes Dan’s grandmother (aka the camera) approach the 2 children. Later, a childish voice replete with a northern accent can be heard repeatedly asking little Dan: “Are you alright?“. Dan continues to cry, pointing at his legs and repeating “weeeeeeee”.

 

Dan and Phil stare at each other in shock, neither breaking their eye contact or even saying a word, their hearts beating fast, almost in unison, while the video continues on in the background with Dan’s grandmother saying: “Oh you poor child. Oh yes, you’ve got an owwie. It’s okay. Grandma’s here” while making shushing noises, trying to calm the little crying child.

 

Their eyes get drawn back to the screen as Dan’s grandmother’s voice says: “Thank you for helping my grandson. You’re such a good boy, your parents raised you well. What’s your name little one?”

 

In the millisecond before the kid answers, Phil feels Dan grabbing his hand, squeezing it almost painfully, only letting go when they both hear: “Phil Lester” voiced out by the kid on the screen.

 

The video continues to play but forgotten, as they turn back their heads to stare at each other, expressions of happiness and awe apparent in their faces.

 

“So it was you all along“, they both say at the same time.

 

And that was the start of their relationship.

 

So maybe the soulmate system was unreasonably complicated at times. But it did symbolize a promise that somebody was out there for every person. People just had to be at the right place at the right time. No pressure really. And of course, just to be sure, try to always bring a camera with you all the time. You never know what it might capture ;)


End file.
